IBM Opens $30M Facility to Build New Power, Mainframe Systems

IBM opens a 56,000-square-foot facility in New York where new Power and System z mainframe systems will be manufactured, with the first products rolling out later this year. The building also has a number of power-saving features that are similar to ones used in data centers.

IBM has opened a $30 million
manufacturing facility in New York
that will produce the next generation of high-end
Power and System z mainframe systems.
The Poughkeepsie, N.Y.,
facility, which opened April 13, also will feature an energy-efficient design.

The 56,000-square-foot building, housed within a larger
building on IBM's 400-acre campus, is a
testament to the company's commitment to the Mid-Valley Hudson River area of New
York, according to Mike Desens, Poughkeepsie
senior location executive with IBM's Systems
and Technology Group.

"The new manufacturing facility in Poughkeepsie
reflects IBM innovation in the design,
testing and assembly of its mainframes and high-end servers," Desens said
in a statement.
Products will begin rolling out of the manufacturing site later
this year, IBM said. The facility was three
years in the making.
The power-saving features in the facility are similar to those
found in data centers, according to the company. Cooling is done through a
closed-loop system that circulates chilled water. The cool air is used for such
tasks as air conditioning and keeping systems cool. The facility has a cooling
capacity of 1,700 tons.

In addition, it also uses IBM's
Cool Blue Rear Door Heat eXchangers to cool the systems inside the facility.
The technology is a water-cooled door that attaches to the back of IBM
servers, cooling the hot air that exits out the back of the system. The hot air
is cooled before it gets back into the data center.
The facility also uses a hot-aisle, cool-aisle system for its
servers, and such power-saving methods as energy-efficient fluorescent lights
and occupancy sensors.
There also are such features as noise-reducing materials, such
as ceiling tiles to minimize noise and dust retention.